Avatar 2 Introduces a New Human Character With Special Ties to Original Cast

There are going to be several new characters joining the fold when the Avatar franchise returns to theaters next year, but one of these newcomers is going to be a big source of friction amongst the returning characters. James Camerona has four Avatar sequels on the way, with Avatar 2 kicking things off in December 2022. The film will be taking place more than a decade after the original, focusing on Jake and Neytiri's family, which now includes a few children. One of these children, however, isn't their biological offspring. 

A new photo from Avatar 2, released by Empire Magazine, debuts Jake and Neytiri's adopted son, Spider. The child, played by Jack Champion, was left behind on the Pandora military outpost because he was too young to make the journey back to Earth. Jake takes him in, but Neytiri has a difficult time coming to terms with a human living amongst them.

"Jake took him in but Neytiri always saw him as one of those people who destroyed her home and killed her father," producer Jon Landau told Empire. "So you have all these dynamics playing out."

In Avatar 2, another mining expedition returns to Pandora and threatens Jake and Neytiri's way of life. They take their family and flee to another village by the ocean, leading to much of the film taking place on or underneath the water.

"The scripts are the blueprint from which we work," Landau explained in an interview with Total Film Magazine. "So a large portion of our time was writing... with the challenge that each of those four scripts had to individually resolve itself in a story that concludes with a big emotional resolution — but when you look at them as a whole, the connected story arc of all four movies creates an even larger epic saga."

"I think the story of Avatar 2, and the strength of the story, is what Jim always does in any of his movies: he writes in universal themes that are bigger than any one genre," the producer continued. "And if you think about this, there's really no more universal theme than family. At the center of each of our sequels is the Sully family. What are the dynamics that parents go through to protect their family?"

Are you looking forward to James Cameron's first Avatar sequel? Let us know in the comments!

Avatar 2 is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2022. The first Avatar is currently streaming on Disney+.